A winch on my 2502

[Yotekiller]

I am wanting to add a winch onto my 2502. I do not want to spend big $ on a skidding winch, would prefer to just purchase a standard 9K truck winch. I have logs I need to pull out of areas that I can't get down in with the tractor. Anyone done this?

 

[Hkb82]

Don’t see why not with a bit of fab work anything is possible. I made a winch mount for my side by side to go into the trailer receiver. Something built to take the load your about to put on it and using a 3ph trailer drawbar I could see it being a pretty handy addition. Good way to drag some logs outa reach or in a crappy spot to get the tractor.

 

[Yotekiller]

Don’t see why not with a bit of fab work anything is possible. I made a winch mount for my side by side to go into the trailer receiver. Something built to take the load your about to put on it and using a 3ph trailer drawbar I could see it being a pretty handy addition. Good way to drag some logs outa reach or in a crappy spot to get the tractor.

Thanks!
My main concern is the power needed for a winch and if the alternator/battery is capable of keeping up with the winch's power consumption. But yeah, it would be invaluable for me and my needs.

 

[Hkb82]

You could consider using a hydraulic winch?

 

[William1]

I have a winch on my little BX. Keep the engine running. Do not use the winch to pull a giant log 100', just enough to free it and then slowly move the tractor pull the log some, then back up, run the winch to pull the cable back in and repeat. I did this for an entire day. Not a problem. Amperage load is directly related to how much heavy pulling you are doing. The tractor is much more capable most of the time.

 

[Hkb82]

If you have the room to just back up then I think I’d just use my logging chains and save having to rewind the winch every time.

 

[NorthwoodsLife]

I'll be watching this thread...

I'm a big time winch guy. And a big time Warn winch guy. I've got a Warn winches on all my 4x4 vehicles, including my pickup trucks, Jeeps, Polaris side by side and my Honda 4x4 ATV. But not on my tractor.... Yet. I almost put one on my wife's Subaru Forester!

Anyway, with all due respect: I think a 4 or 5,000 lb winch on a L2502 will be a better option than a huge 9,000 lb winch. Think about an ATV or side by side winch at about 4 to 5,000 lb capacity. Because, you don't want to risk twisting the frame of your tractor, and a smaller winch draws a lot less power from your battery. A 9.,000 lb winch will pull your tractor towards the logs before you realize that the log is just too big.

I've owned Superwinch, Smittybuilt and Warn. Harbor F has some decent winches if you believe the reviews. But, I always go back to Warn, despite the price. It's been worth it for me.

 

[JasonW]

I’ve had a Viper brand 5,000lb Atv/utv winch on my L3800 for almost 10 years now. It was the largest at the time that would fit between the loader and opening the hood. It’s a “wide” model holding more cable/rope than the standard version. It’s mounted in the grill guard.

 

[Yotekiller]

I'll be watching this thread...

I'm a big time winch guy. And a big time Warn winch guy. I've got a Warn winches on all my 4x4 vehicles, including my pickup trucks, Jeeps, Polaris side by side and my Honda 4x4 ATV. But not on my tractor.... Yet. I almost put one on my wife's Subaru Forester!

Anyway, with all due respect: I think a 4 or 5,000 lb winch on a L2502 will be a better option than a huge 9,000 lb winch. Think about an ATV or side by side winch at about 4 to 5,000 lb capacity. Because, you don't want to risk twisting the frame of your tractor, and a smaller winch draws a lot less power from your battery. A 9.,000 lb winch will pull your tractor towards the logs before you realize that the log is just too big.

I've owned Superwinch, Smittybuilt and Warn. Harbor F has some decent winches if you believe the reviews. But, I always go back to Warn, despite the price. It's been worth it for me.

Yep, as a life long Jeep/off-road guy, I have went through my fair share of winches! The biggest issue with smaller winches is finding one with a long cable/rope. Most of the smaller winches are around 50 feet and I really need one at LEAST 100.

 

[Yotekiller]

If you have the room to just back up then I think I’d just use my logging chains and save having to rewind the winch every time.

I am unable to access the area I need to be at with the tractor. That's why I am looking at winches...

 

[William1]

A thing to keep in mind is if the log is caught up or so heavy that a big winch can cause you to drag your tractor. You really do not want to chain the tractor to a tree to prevent dragging the tractor. A skidding tractor is like a safety fuse to prevent damage.
I will often use good syn rope for the distance and the winch cable to just pull a portion (25' increments), again, pull with the winch, until the tractor can drag it.
I have a 200' spool of 'weak rope', probably 500 pound, then two 50' hanks of good syn, 3,000 pounds.
I also have several chainsaws.....

 

[Yotekiller]

A thing to keep in mind is if the log is caught up or so heavy that a big winch can cause you to drag your tractor. You really do not want to chain the tractor to a tree to prevent dragging the tractor. A skidding tractor is like a safety fuse to prevent damage.
I will often use good syn rope for the distance and the winch cable to just pull a portion (25' increments), again, pull with the winch, until the tractor can drag it.
I have a 200' spool of 'weak rope', probably 500 pound, then two 50' hanks of good syn, 3,000 pounds.
I also have several chainsaws.....

Yeah I have no intentions of chaining the tractor to root it from being pulled back. I have been working with a long tow strap, chain, and chokers but I am now out of reach with that setup. I just need to pull the logs high enough up the banks to where I can drag them with the tractor. Right before I purchased this property, a logging company came in and dropped $95K worth of trees and then they and the owners got into a heated fight and the owners kicked them off the property. The logging company left most of it just laying on the ground. So I have hundreds of trees to bring out of my woods. I am contemplating getting some bids from loggers to see if they will come get it as it's mostly white and red oak. But I am having a lot of fun with it at the moment...
And chainsaws are one of my biggest hobbies. I have more than I care to discuss, or admit to.

 

[Daferris]

See this post for what I did. It works very well. No issues with battery however I use it with the tractor running. I also have a 150A breaker at the battery just in case the +12 volt lead to the back gets caught on something and shorts out. The tractor with the parking brake on (LX2610) has never budged even pulling an 18" Dia 15' log. I use a 3,000 lb ATV with a wireless remote control.

My winch project

I've been clearing some of the fallen trees to widen the deer paths thru the woods next to the house. Kind of a make work project admittedly but eventually I should have about a mile of pathways in the woods to enjoy. I wanted to avoid knocking down some of the saplings that are off the path...

www.orangetractortalks.com

 

[Yotekiller]

See this post for what I did. It works very well. No issues with battery however I use it with the tractor running. I also have a 150A breaker at the battery just in case the +12 volt lead to the back gets caught on something and shorts out. The tractor with the parking brake on (LX2610) has never budged even pulling an 18" Dia 15' log. I use a 3,000 lb ATV with a wireless remote control.

My winch project

I've been clearing some of the fallen trees to widen the deer paths thru the woods next to the house. Kind of a make work project admittedly but eventually I should have about a mile of pathways in the woods to enjoy. I wanted to avoid knocking down some of the saplings that are off the path...

www.orangetractortalks.com

Thanks for the link! I am wanting to attach to my drawbar and hoping there will be enough room to have the winch mounted AND my box blade on the back. This way I can drop the box blade and act as an anchor and offer stability as well.

 

[arml]

This looks easy enough...

 

[Yotekiller]

This looks easy enough...
View attachment 123207

That's a hard NO!

 

[Daferris]

That should work but you probably will be limited to the size of a winch that will fit. For me the primary issue was I needed to pull from angle due to the limited space in the trails. It takes less effort than you would think to skid a log on the ground. My 3k winch has way more power than needed for what I am doing with it. The ideas on the wiring and the use of the Anderson connector for the power you might find useful as it makes it super easy to deal with disconnecting the power. I am using a 50 Amp connector due to it's small size. I have not had any issues with it getting hot but then you are only running the winch a minute or two at a time anyway.

 

[Hkb82]

I am unable to access the area I need to be at with the tractor. That's why I am looking at winches...

Sorry that was a response to to this solution.

I have a winch on my little BX. Keep the engine running. Do not use the winch to pull a giant log 100', just enough to free it and then slowly move the tractor pull the log some, then back up, run the winch to pull the cable back in and repeat. I did this for an entire day. Not a problem. Amperage load is directly related to how much heavy pulling you are doing. The tractor is much more capable most of the time.

 

[Yotekiller]

That should work but you probably will be limited to the size of a winch that will fit. For me the primary issue was I needed to pull from angle due to the limited space in the trails. It takes less effort than you would think to skid a log on the ground. My 3k winch has way more power than needed for what I am doing with it. The ideas on the wiring and the use of the Anderson connector for the power you might find useful as it makes it super easy to deal with disconnecting the power. I am using a 50 Amp connector due to it's small size. I have not had any issues with it getting hot but then you are only running the winch a minute or two at a time anyway.

I definitely liked how you wired it up and plan to do pretty much the same thing. Thank you for sharing your experience! And I would have no problem trying a 3500# winch. I am just having trouble finding a smaller winch with 100' of line...

 

[skeets]

So what are you going to do with the wood,, lumber, firewood, what?